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FACULTY COMMENT Sowing the Wind: Rebellion and Violence in Theory and Practice * ROBERT A. FRIEDLANDER** For they have sown the wind. and they shall reap the whirlwind. , .. Hosea 8:7 "I have had it with terrorism."l This recent statement by President Gerald R. Ford, quintessentially reflects the constant concern, the omnipresent fear, and the intense frustration of both governments and private citizens over the continuing threat of global terror-violence. Not only democracy, but the very concept of the state itself as the administrative custodian of political power is presently under attack in all areas of the world.' Public protest by bomb and by bullet rather than by ballot and by peaceful demonstration has become an all-too familiar symbol of the last decade. A very real spectre haunting the corridors of power in this age of nuclear stalemate is the feeling that "terrorism will become more than a sporadic dis- ruption to law and order; it will menace the very survival of civilization Terrorism, either national or international, is primarily "a weapon of the weak.'" It is the strategy by which dissident political groups, unable to achieve power or to influence gov- '* CHOZlEH, B" A THEORY OF CONFLlCT. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York t :KY 10017 (197·1), xvii. 245 p,; BASSIOUNI, M,e (Editor), INTEHNATlONAL TEitROR1SM AND POLlT1CAl. CRIMES, Charie" C, Thomas, Springfield, IL 62703 (1975), xxvi, 594 p,: ALF,XANDEH, y, (Editor), INTERNATIONAL TERRORlS\I"l: NATIONAL, REGlOl"<AL, AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES, Praeger Special St.udies, Praeger Publishers Inc" New York, NY 10003 (1976), xx, a90 p, **, Associate Profes:::or of International L"aw, Lewis University College of Law; J\tlember, International Committee or TerrOrtBm, World Association of Lawyers. 1, Speech before the South Florida Chapter, Federal Bar Association, reported in Chicago Tribune, Feb, 15, 1976, at 3, coL 4. 2, B, CROUER. A THEORY OF CONFLICT a·12 (1974) [hereinafter cited ae CROZIER], :3. Alexander, Introdu,ctton, in INTERNATlONAL TERROR1SM xvii (y, Alexander ed, 1976) [hereinafter cited as ALExANDERj. Tf:is feelinEY was shared by many of the participants at the Department of State Conference on lnternational Terrorism, Wash· ington, D,C" Feb, 20·26, 1976, 4, CROZIER, supra note 2, at 129,

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Page 1: FACULTY COMMENT - djilp.org

FACULTY COMMENT

Sowing the Wind: Rebellion and Violence in Theory and Practice *

ROBERT A. FRIEDLANDER**

For they have sown the wind. and they shall reap the whirlwind. , ..

Hosea 8:7 "I have had it with terrorism."l This recent statement by

President Gerald R. Ford, quintessentially reflects the constant concern, the omnipresent fear, and the intense frustration of both governments and private citizens over the continuing threat of global terror-violence. Not only democracy, but the very concept of the state itself as the administrative custodian of political power is presently under attack in all areas of the world.' Public protest by bomb and by bullet rather than by ballot and by peaceful demonstration has become an all-too familiar symbol of the last decade. A very real spectre haunting the corridors of power in this age of nuclear stalemate is the feeling that "terrorism will become more than a sporadic dis­ruption to law and order; it will menace the very survival of civilization itself."~

Terrorism, either national or international, is primarily "a weapon of the weak.'" It is the strategy by which dissident political groups, unable to achieve power or to influence gov-

'* CHOZlEH, B" A THEORY OF CONFLlCT. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York t :KY 10017 (197·1), xvii. 245 p,; BASSIOUNI, M,e (Editor), INTEHNATlONAL TEitROR1SM AND

POLlT1CAl. CRIMES, Charie" C, Thomas, Springfield, IL 62703 (1975), xxvi, 594 p,: ALF,XANDEH, y, (Editor), INTERNATIONAL TERRORlS\I"l: NATIONAL, REGlOl"<AL, AND GLOBAL

PERSPECTIVES, Praeger Special St.udies, Praeger Publishers Inc" New York, NY 10003 (1976), xx, a90 p,

**, Associate Profes:::or of International L"aw, Lewis University College of Law; J\tlember, International Committee or TerrOrtBm, World Association of Lawyers.

1, Speech before the South Florida Chapter, Federal Bar Association, reported in Chicago Tribune, Feb, 15, 1976, at 3, coL 4.

2, B, CROUER. A THEORY OF CONFLICT a·12 (1974) [hereinafter cited ae CROZIER], :3. Alexander, Introdu,ctton, in INTERNATlONAL TERROR1SM xvii (y, Alexander ed,

1976) [hereinafter cited as ALExANDERj. Tf:is feelinEY was shared by many of the participants at the Department of State Conference on lnternational Terrorism, Wash· ington, D,C" Feb, 20·26, 1976,

4, CROZIER, supra note 2, at 129,

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ernmental policy through legitimate means, can coerce govern­ments, overturn established regimes, and intimidate entire peoples. Although a precise legal definition has yet to be formu­lated, international terrorism may be said to be that "[i1ndividual or collective coercive conduct employing strate­gies of terror-violence which contain an international element or are directed against an internationally protected target and whose aim is to produce a power-oriented outcome.'" It IS

above all else a technique "for demolishing a State.";\

The underlying issue-and one that may never be re­solved-is how to divorce terrorism, which is essentially crimi­nality,' from rebellion or revolution, which are generally recog­nized remedies in international law.' When is rebellion legally and morally permissible? Under what conditions can revolu­tion be legitimized? Can revolutionary violence ever be justi­fied? Or, to view the other side of the coin, "[ wlhen is it wrong to rebel?'" How does one reconcile America's revolutionary ori· gins and Thomas Jefferson's injunction that "[tlhe tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants" with the United States Draft Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Certain Acts of Interna­tional Terrorism?!Il

The answer, if there is an answer, is that although rebel­lion cannot be separated from conflict. violence must not be directed at innocent parties. To "endanger. threaten or take

fL Basstouni et at-, Final Documen t, in II"TERNATIONAL TERRORISM AKD POLITICAL

CRIM;':$ XIV (M,C, Bassiouni ed, 19(75) rhereinafter cited as BASSro1JNI]. Ct. Paust. A ,"'urppy of P08sible Legal Rf'8pon'>es to International Terrorism.' Preuention, J4JniRh­ment. and Cooperative Action, 5 GA. J, INT'L & COMPo L. 431. 432·35 (1975)

!hereinaiter cited as Paust!. 6. CROZIER, supra note 2, a: 119. 7, Friedlander, Terrorism, 2 BARRlSTf':r: 11 (1975) [hereinafter cited as Friedlan~

derl; :'vlurphy. The Role of International Law in the Prevention of Terrorist Ki.dnap· pin!! of Diplomatic Personnel, in BASSJOUNI, supra note 5! at 305~09; S. SCHAFER! THE

PULITICA.L CRl.M1NAL THE PROBLEM: OF MORALITY AND CRIME (1974) {hereinafter cited as SCHAn;k!.

8. C{. 1. BHOW"LIE. PRINCIPLES OF Pt:BLlC INTERNATIONAL LAw 89·108 (2d ed. 1973); ·)L. BIlIERLY (H. Waldock cd.), THE LAW OF NATIONS; A" INTFIODLC1'lON TO THE INTER~A' TIONAL LA" OF PEACE 137·61 (6th ed. 1963); Tm, INTERNATIONAL LAw OF CIVIL WAR (R. Falk ed. 197]).

9. CR07:if,R, supra note 2, at 11. 10. Cf, Kutner, A Philosophical Perspective on Rebellion, and Murphy. United

Nations Proposa!s on the Control and Repression. of Terrori!!m, in BASSlOCNl. supra note 5, at 51·61, 493·506: and CROZIER, supra note 2. at 13·31.

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innocent human lives and to jeopardize fundamental free­doms" of the individual is to disregard public international law, declarations and resolutions of the United Nations relat­ing to human rights, and the basic provisions of the United Nations Charter,1! If innocent civilian populations are to be subjected to random or selective terrorist attack, then terror­violence becomes destructive not only of law and legal systems but potentially of modern civilization itself.

Nonetheless, terrorism has become inextricably inter­twined with so~called national liberation movements, On the one hand, to quote the U,N, Secretariat's study of the origins and causes of international terrorism, "the legitimacy of a cause does not in itself legitimize the use of certain forms of violence, especially against the innocent," However. force and, by implication, violence become legitimate if they are utilized by national liberation movements asserting the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples,12 In fact, the United Nations has consistently and repeatedly supported a lawful force exception when it involves "the right to self­determination" and the struggle of "peoples under colonial and racist regimes or other forms of alien domination."'3 The most pressing problem, which has yet to be resolved, is how to bal­ance the equities between the U,N,-asserted right to self­determination on the one hand, and the maintenance of a mini­mum standard of world public order on th~ other.

If terrorism "is normally a cent:ral feature of revolutionary war" and a constant element in an ambience of' domestic tur-

11, United N atlOns Secretariat. AJ easu.res to Prevent In ternaliana! Terrorism Which E'ndanHers or Takes Innocent Human Liues or ,Jeopardizes Fundamental Free~ doms, and Study 0/ the Underlying Causes of Those Forms of Terrorism and .4cts 0/ Viofence Which Lie in l\1isery, Frustration, Grievance and Despair and Which Cause Some PeopLe to Sacrifice Human L£ves, Including Their Own, in on Attempt to Effect Radical Change,<, US. Doc, A/C. 6/418. Nov. 2, 1973, reprinted in part in BASS10UN1,

.mpra not.e 5, at 5-10. 12, Id" at 6·9. 13. Cr. Basic Principles of the Legal Status of the Combatants Struggling Against

Crimmal and Alien Domin.ation and Rocist Regimes, G.A. Res, 3103 II reprinted in BAS81OUN1, supra note 5, at 213-15; Report 0/ the Special Committee on the Questl'on of Definin.~ A!1gresHion, 29 U,N. GAOR Supp. 19, U.N. Doc, A/9619, Dec. 14, 1974. For a genera1 ana1ysis of thi$! important declaration, see Comment, The United Nations D#tinition of Aggrr,.:;sion: A Preliminary Analysis, 5 DENVER ,1. hn'L L, & POL, 171 1!975) ,

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moil," then what of legality, whether international or domes­tic? Must one stand aside until the revolutionary process, to paraphrase Vergniaud, devours everyone? If the cause is anti­colonial under present international law, are there no legal norms that can be applied against the slaughter of the inno­cent? The answer, of course, is that remedies are possible, if they are equitably applied. Minimum standards of conduct could be developed which would then determine legal guide­lines for every member of the world community.'" Oppressive regimes need not be assisted, insurrections and rebellions are distinguishable from civil wars, and external participation in internal strife can be governed by established principles of in­ternationallaw. "The essential task is to determine the divid­ing line between civil strife which is basically criminal and that which is an expression of the will ofthe people."I'

Is an armed revolt prima facie a war of national liberation? Is a war of national liberation necessarily a civil war') And what of subversion within the broader rubric of internal war?" Dur­ing the past fifteen years a common bond linking all domestic categories of conflict has been that of terror-violence, with the notable exception of the Biafran secession and Nigerian civil war. In Biafra, as a matter of strategy and tactics, terrorism was consciously avoided. Years later. however, a former high official in the Biafran revolutionary government confided to this writer that "Biafra made a mistake in not trying terrorism. We were wrong. If we had terrorized, we would be independent today. The PLO has shown how effective the use of terror can be in t.he international arena."'~

Small wonder, then, that. the chief observer of the PLO at

14" CROZIER, fwpro note 2, at 127-28, In. See the proposals of MUte, Terrorl:sm and International Order, 8 ANZA8 J,

CR1M1N{}Lo(~Y 101, 111 (l9'7l3), and Paust, supra note 5, If>' Novogrod, Internal Strije. Self-Determination, and W'orld Order, in

BASSJOllNI. supra note 5, at P3, Paust, supra note 5, at 459-62, is especially critica: of those who would link together self-determination and terror-violence, For a more de­tailed analysis of self-determination. see Friedlander, Self-DetermilWtion.' A Legal­Political Inquiry, 1975 DE'L COL. L, REV. 71.

17, Cf, Dinstein, Terrorism and yilar of Liberation,' An israeli Perspect;ive of the Arab~]'.>;raeh Con/1ict, in BASSIOUNL supra note 5, at 155-59 [hereinafter cited as Din­stein l~ CIW7,JER, supra note 2, at 199-21 L

18. Stat.ement to the author by C.C. ~fojekwu, former MinIster of SLate, Govern~ ment of Biafra, .Jari. 22, 1976. See also .L DE ST. jORRE, THE. BROTHERS' '\\;AR: BIAFRA AN!) N,eER'A ()9nl.

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the United Nations claims that "[vliolence is an essential part of a liberation movement. ",\I The quarrel over who is terrorizing whom in the :\1iddle East has been inexorable, and is by now self-defeating. Whether it is a question of two conflicting claims of right or one of remedying legal (and also moral) wrongs, the Palestinian-Israeli controversy has become part of "super-power" politics and ultimately will be resolved by "super-power" pressures. Arguments can be put forth on both sides, but two inescapable facts remain. Israel as a national entity does exist, regardless of the desires of the Arab leaders, and the April 1976 municipal elections on the West Bank repre­sent a growing Palestinian national consciousness. however much the Israeli government may wish otherwise.

Since 1969, with Israel as the catalyst, a Palestinian na­tional movement has undeniably developed, and the United Nations General Assembly has gone on record, in more than a dozen instances, in support of the right of the Palestinian peo­ple to self-determination.2fl Given the current dynamics of the international community, terror-violence in the Yliddle East has been "the vehicle of organized insurgency," and is, "at its core, a movement t.oward national sovereignty. "21 The unre­solved issue is whether terrorism-largely in the form of kid­napping and murder-even if for political ends, should be legitimized as an inst.rument of nation-building. Is not terror­ist activity a political maneuver designed to disrupt. personal freedoms and to impair fundamental human rights? If so, then has not the world community opened a political Pandora's Box, the effect of which may not be readily understood, especially by those who prefer short-run advantage over long-term possi­bilities? In the words of Raymond Aron, "if men do not know what they can expect from each other, they [can] no longer live in [civilized] society.""

19. Kirk. PLO's Mild-Mannered Aggressor. Chicago Tribune, Apr. 4. 1976. § 2, at 2. col. 4 (interview with Zehdi Labib Terzi).

20, Cf. Dinstein, supra note 17; IVfallison & Mallison, An International Law .. 4p­pr(J,I'sa! of the Jun:dical Character£st£c8 of the People of Palestin.e: The Struggle jor Human Rights, :n BASSIOtlNl, supra note 5, at 160~90; Alexander, From TerroriFim to War.' ThE Anatomy of the Birth of Israel. and Weisband & Roguly. Palestinian Terror· ism: Violen.ce, Verbal Strategy and Legitimacy, in ALEXANIJER, supra note ~3, at 211-

310. 21. Weisband & Roguly, id., at 259. 22. R. ARoN, PC"'E AN\) WAR: A THEORY OF INTERNA'T10NAL RELATIONS 170 0966j.

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Deprived of mass communications, terrorism becomes a weapon of the impot.ent, Terror-violence relies almost exclu­sively on psychological impact to convey its awful message.'" Modern technology has greatly assisted the "public purpose terror" of those dissident groups who consider themselves ex· cluded from the mainstream of their country's political life." Criminal violence is not purposeful in the broad sense, but rather purposeless-aside from the lure of financial gain or the inner satisfaction of revenge-and it is often senseless. "Terror­ism is different from criminal violence in that its purpose is symbolic, its means psychological, and its ends political."2C The medium is truly the message when terror-violence becomes linked with mass communications,

The journalistic glorification of the strange saga of the self­styled Svmbionese Liberation Armv and of Pattv Hearst has

~ . ~~-

disoriented public opinion to such an extent that the victims are subordinated to the victimizers. Never a true revolutionary terrorist movement, the SLA has received a quantum of atten­tion from the news media that makes them appear to have been a major urban guerrilla movement. 2'

Television, especially, has played an important role in con· fusing the public mind and promoting violence as an accepted way of life. Does not violence breed violence, and if crime is taken to be the natural order of things, does not this very view engender still more criminal attacks?21 If Western pluralistic societies are confronted with "a saturation by images of vio· lence," then does not some sort of regulation or control become inevitable to ensure survival? The unarticulated premise is that a political price must, of necessity, be paid for regulation

23. Cf CHow:e. supra n()re 2, at l!9·32; Hutchinson. The Concept of Reua/ution­ory Terrorism. 16,1. CONFLICT RES, 383 (:972); E. WALTER, TRRROR AND RESISTANCE: A STCDY or POLITICAL VIOLENeR WITH CASE STUDiES Of' SOME PRIMITIVE AFRICAN

COMMlIN1TJ>;i; Chs. ,·3 (1969); R. Mass. THE WAR FOR 'fHE ClTIES Chs. 1·2 (1972).

24. Th(> term is taken from Mallison & Mallison, The Concept of Pub;l:c PLiJ"pOSe Tprror in International Law: Doctrinc6 and Sanctions to Reduce the Destruch'Jn of Human an-d l\1ateria! Valups, in BASSJOUNt~ supra note 5, at 67 rhereinafter cited as Mallison & Mallison I.

25. Weisband & Roguiy, Pale:?-tinian Terrorism. Violence, Verbal Strategy, and Lppitimac.y. in ALEXANDER. supra note 3, at 258.

26 .• Johnpoll, Perspectives on Political Terrorism in the United States. in Al.EXANDER. supra nole~. at 40·41. See aiso editorial in the Denver Post, Sept.. 21. 1975. at 2,1. col. 1.

27. Cf CtWZI8R, mpm note 2, at 228~ao; Friedlander, supra note 7, at 12.

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1976 REBELLION AND TERROR-VI0LENCE 89

and control. The more effective the restraints placed upon the communications industry, the greater the reduction of civil liberties for the individual citizen,

Can individual or group terrorist activity be at all con­strued to constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, or crimes of aggression?2S Or, in the alternative, should there be a serious effort made by the international community to reduce the incidence of terrorism by invoking the laws of war and applying them to guerrillas and organized political dissidents? Are the laws of war relevant to control of terrorism, both foreign and domestic? The prevailing view is that "[t]he use of terror­ist methods by guerrillas deprives the movement of the privi­leged status which is conferred to guerrilla warfare by the Ge­neva Convention .... "2~ The countervailing argument is that the protection afforded by Articles 3 and 4 of the Geneva Con­vention should be extended to participants in national libera­tion movements. The terrorist acting as liberationist, these advocates argue, is entitled to be treated according to the mini­mum standards for protection of prisoners established by the Geneva Convention of 1949.""

The answer will inevitably depend upon the focus of the inquiry. If emphasis is placed upon the causes of violence and the motive of the actor, then a broadly-based political offense exception is certainly permissible and, perhaps even desirable. But, if the emphasis is centered upon the acts of violence and the resultant social harm, then a different' conclusion must be reached. Terrorism is purposely inhumane; it is fundamentally the brutalization and the deprivation not only of human rights, but of life itself. "With the methods used by t.he IRA against the English people, or the methods used by the PLO against Israeli civilians, even foreign travellers in Israel, we reach a kind of terrorism heyond civilized conception. "31

28. Tran-Tarn, Cn:rncs of Terror-iBm and lnternationa{ Criminal Law, in 1 A TREA­

TISE ON INTERNATIO~AL CRIM[NAL LAW 499-500 C\o1.C. Bassiauni & V. Nanda eds. 1973)

[hereinafter cited as BA3StotJNI & NANDA), See also CROZIER. supra nOle 2, at 17, 29-;11, l:iO: Toman , Terrr;rif?m and the Regulation of Armed Conflicts, in BASSlOGNl, supra note 5, at 143. >16·47, 152.

29. [d., at 145·46.

30. Lahey & Sang, Control of Terrorism Through a Broader Interpretation of Article :1 of the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949, in BASSlOUNI, supra note 5, at 191-200; Mallison & Mallison. supra note 24, at 79-83.

:)1. Howe, The Ultimate Pnce of Random Terror. SKEPTiC, .Jan.IFeb. 1976. at 15.

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The issue of maintaining a political offense exception to the established legal maxim, aut dedere aut punire, (extradite or prosecute), remains a divisive one in international law. For example, no one as yet has been able to develop a workable definition of political crimes. Even in the last quarter of the twentieth century, there are no clear guidelines existing in ex­tradition law and practice. In fact, the multiplicity of compet­ing interests and conflicting theories offers a serious impedi­ment to effective criminal law enforcement and to the stability of world public order. The very concept of a political crime has been a two-edged sword from the era of the French Revolution and the Belgian political offense exception statute of 18a:~. The still unresolved question is whether protections offered the "ideologically motivated offender" will derogate individual rights and personal freedoms. In other words, does national self-interest outweigh the need for a universal procedural due process?32

The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal has provided a meaningful standard within the context of Anglo-American law. Urban terrorists are held to be common criminals. Murder or the indiscriminate, perpetration of serious bodily harm can­not be considered acts in furtherance of a political uprising. Revolutionary activity must not be confused with homicidal behavior.33 Thus, to grant any excusing condition to political offenders who have inflicted death and destruction upon inno­cent third parties is a patent denial of the rule of law, whether national or international. Even V.L Lenin, before the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917, eschewed terror-violence as a substi­tute for revolutionary agitation. M

What, then, is being done; and even more important, what can be done to inhibit the incidence and the increase of terror­ist activity? Terrorism, whether national, international, or transnational,35 is on the rise with a concomitant threat to the

32. BASSIOUNl, The Political Offense Exception in Extradition Law and Practice, in BASSIOUNI. supra note 5, at 398-447, See also M,C, BASSIOUNI, INTERNATIONAL EXTRA­

DlTlON AND WORW PuBLIC ORDER 3SS-434 (1974). 33. In re Statl! of Wisconsin and Armstrong, [19721 28 D.LR,3d 513 (1972); See

also Green, Terrorism: The Canadian Perspective, in ALEXANDER, supra note 3. at 6-10,

34, V.I. LENlN, WHAT IS 1'0 BE DONE" BURNING QUESTIONS OF Ot;R MOVEMENT 74-77

(New World Paperback Ed. 1969), 35, CROZIER, supra note 2, at 109, 130, distinguishes transnational from interna-

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maintenance of world public order,')fi Creation of an interna­tional criminal code defining specific acts of terror-violence as international crimes,37 establishing an international criminal court with jurisdiction over international criminal offenders,''' and proscribing terrorist attacks upon diplomatic personnel,'l!l have all been subjects of draft statutes and conventions, but they have yet. to be enacted into an operative international legal system, and the question of enforcement has inspired con­tinuing debate and profound disagreement, Whatever else may be said, making government officials a protected class while failing to provide for the security of innocent civilians is cer­tainly not the answer.

Three civil aviation conventions have been concluded: Tokyo (1963), The Hague (1970), and Montreal (1971), Yet, there is not at present "any really concerted and energetic in­ternational control action, as to aerial piracy, that really has some teeth in it .. , ."41' The contracting state parties have agreed to place conduct which endangers the safety of aircraft within their domestic criminal jurisdiction, but there is no spe­cial protective status provided for the passengers or the crew by the state to which the aircraft has been illegally diverted, Likewise. there is no "sanctions convention" directed against states which grant safe haven to skyjackers, although the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United King­dom have vigorously proposed such action. The United States

t.IOnal terrorism in tha~, the former is the conduct of individuals or disparate groups. while the iaUer indicates a world~wide organizational structure, such as the Socialist or Communist IntE;tnutiol1Bis.

36. A conelusion reached by the Department of StaLe Conferen(;e on International Terrorism, Washington, D,C" Feb, 25-26, 1976, It was almost the only point upon which the participants could agree,

37 Palmer) Codi/icat!:on of Terrorism as an international Crime, in BASSIOUNl,

supra note 5, at 507-\8 (draft statute proposedi; Johnston, Problems in the Enforce­ment of World Criminal Law, 8 ANZAS.1. CRlM1NOLOGY 87,96-100 (1975).

38. De Schutter, Problems of Jurisdiction in the Internationa.i Control and Re­pr(lssion of Terroris;m, in BASSlOUNl, supra note 5) at 377 M90; K08~Rabcewicz Zub­kowskL The Creut/:on of an International Criminal Court, in BASSlOUNI, supra note 5, at 519·36,

39, Murphy, The Rate of lnternatl:orwl Law in the Preuention of Terrorist Kidnap­ping of Diplomatic Personnel, in BASS[Oti'NI, supra note 5, at 285·313, cr C.E. BAU­MANN, T'tlE DIPLOMATIC KIDN"APPI!'<GS: A REVOLUTIONARY TACTIC OF URB:\;"'i: TERRORISM

(1978), 40, E. MCVv'HlJS1'il':Y, THE: ILLEGAL DIVERSlO~ OF AIRCRAFT A:..lD INTERNATWNAL LAW

116 (19751.

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has set an example in this regard by enacting more stringent measures than any other country aimed at control of air pi. racy.tl It is regrettable that the proposal of the International Federation of Airline Pilots to suspend all commercial service to any country providing refuge for skyjackers has not been implemented, for this would serve notice to all nations that sheltering such offenders would be a tortious act subject to international economic sanctions.

At issue throughout this entire discussion is the role of law and its operative limitations. As long as "what is terrorism to some is heroism to others," as long as the preservation of mini­mum world public order is subordinated to the national inter­est, and as long as there is no international superstructure which is capable of dealing with international crime. the strate­gies of terror·violence are certain to increase. The hard fact and cold reality is that the maintenance and preservation of inter­national law and order can only be achieved through a volun­tary reduction of.national sovereignty.'2

Liberal democracy alsD faces some hard choices. In order for pluralistic societies to deal with the challenge of rebellion and terror-violence in the last quarter of the twentieth century, the fundamental freedoms which they take so much for granted will have to be restricted in some measure-and most likely reduced-if the current attack on the international state sys­tem is to be brought under control. The cost of waging terror­ism, for governments and people, is high. Rebellion and terror­violence are, in effect, war waged against the state. Thus. "the real problem, for a pluralistic society, is how to contain subver­sion while maintaining the freedoms and avoiding the alterna­tive dangers of the authoritative solution or the totalist hor­ror. "43

41. Cr. Evans. Aircraft HiJacking.' What is Being Done, and Lee, International Suppres.9ion of HUackl:ng, In BASSIOUNl, supra note 5, at 219·56; S'.mdberg, P.iracyand Terrorism, in 1 BASsto'JNl & NA."IlDA, supra note 28, at 455·90: and Finger. InLernationa! Terrorism and the United Nat£ons, in ALEXANDER, supra note 3, at 327~46.

42, Bassiouni. Methodological Options for International Legal Control of Terrorism, in BASS[Ol:Nl, supra note 5, at 485~92; Friedlander, Power Politics and the Rule of Law.' Professor Schworzen.berger Reconsidered, 24 DE PAUl. L. REV. 836 (1975).

43, CROZIER\ supra note 2, at 205, Cf, Alexander; Introduction, in ALEXA~nER, supra note :J-, at xviwxix. The latter reluctantly concludes: "18.]11 that can be done is to make terrorism less inviting and more costly to jts precipitators and supporters."

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1976 REBELLIOS AND TERROR-VIOLENCE 93

Political violence will abide no limitations placed upon it. Though very few political criminals ever "achieve the monu­mental climax of their efforts," their historical role has been to act out their fantasies encompassed by an all-consuming hatred." Those who worship the cult of force ultimately make force itself the greater truth. Destruction becomes a way of life and a way of death. In the words of historian E"J. Hobsbawm, the worst kind of violence "is the violence which gets out of anyone's control."" Terrorism throughout the world is getting out of control. If not restrained in time the end result may leave humanity a Hobson's choice-either a global Orwellian future, or none at all.

44. SCHAFER, supra note 7, at 15. 45. E. HOIISBAWM, R8VOUlTIONAR1ES: CONTEMPORARY EssAYS 215 (973).

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